Thursday, November 03, 2011

Rumors of an Anonymous Attack on Facebook for November 5

"Remember, remember the 5th of November". These lines were spoken by none other than vigilante for justice V in the graphic novel-turned film V for Vendetta. What's more is that the mask popularized by the character is also the same one the hacktivist group Anonymous uses for all their demonstrations and media. The group typically targets big name corporations and has seen quite an influx in activity in recent months. Companies like Bank of America and Sony, along with a few government sites, are some of the more recognized attacks though the group might be setting its sights on Facebook next.

The reason people should care about this is that Anonymous is good at what they do, really good in fact, and they are definitely good enough to pull off a successful attack on the social media giant. On the other hand, there is some good news, at least for users of the site. The group usually uses threats and warnings in order to get people thinking about their targets without actually doing any real damage. Facebook has become a target for abusing the privacy of its users.

There has been some talk about the attack happening on the 5th of November, a date which corresponds to Guy Fawkes Day. Guy Fawkes Day is a U.K. holiday celebrating the failed plot by Fawkes and a crew of conspirators to blow up British Parliament in 1605, subsequently killing King James I. The day is supposed to recognize the saving of King James I's life, however in recent years it seems to favor Fawkes' attempt on the King's life as well as the thought of speaking truth to power.

However, it seems as if Anonymous has given up on the Facebook attack, codename "OP_FB". There has been very little recent activity on the group's Twitter account and there have also been no new significant statements specifically targeting Facebook. Anonymous is instead turning its attention to more public-friendly targets, like disrupting child pornography sites and threatening to attack the Zeta Mexican drug cartel.

There was a posting on PiratePad.net, an Anonymous open forum (so to speak). The post stated, "Ideas for OP_FB: Post ideas here guise. We are more powerful than DDoS attacks, and Facebook isn't going to keel over from something small. We have more power than this and we should utilize it."

However, this doesn't really seem like a well thought out attack but more of a brainstorming session. Even if the group leaves Facebook alone, the fact that the social media site was even targeted by the group suggests that what the site is doing with personal privacy is unacceptable. I guess we will just have to wait until the 5th of November to find out though.

Source: Mashable - Will Anonymous Target Facebook on Nov. 5?

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